Contents

Mitchell joined the Virginia Army National Guard in 1999. He then studied Computer Science and Psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In 2001, he served in Bosnia as an Army Engineer. He was then deployed to Iraq in 2004. He is currently the President/CEO of Modern Mechanical.

Elections

2011

Mitchell ran in the 2011 election for Virginia Senate District 13. He was uncontested in the August 23 primary and was defeated by Republican Richard Black in the November 8 general election.[1]Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Virginia State Senate, District 13 General Election, 2011

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Richard Black

57.1%

20,786

Democratic

J. Shawn Mitchell

42.9%

15,613

Total Votes

36,399

Issues

Campaign themes

2011

Mitchell's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Education

Excerpt: "Investing in our K-12 education and colleges & universities is vital to continued success in the Commonwealth. We’re very fortunate that Loudoun and Prince William counties have great public schools."

Jobs & Economy

Excerpt: "...That’s why he believes we need to continue to grow our business community here in Northern Virginia by providing incentives to small and medium-sized businesses that

will create and maintain jobs in our community."

Transportation

Excerpt: "Our transportation crisis is a major force decreasing our quality of life here in the 13th District. We need to provide practical, yet innovative solutions like synchronized traffic lights and increased telecommuting;"